Default User wrote:
> jmcquown wrote:
>
>> Yep, a scant cup means slightly less than 8 oz. My grandmothers
>> didn't measure things exactly and, in fact, often said "fill your
>> palm" for a measure of salt or baking soda. Grandma Mac's recipes
>> often called for "butter the size of a walnut" which basically meant
>> about 2 Tbs. butter. Gotta learn to translate
>
>
> I recall reading in The Joy of Cooking that they conciously got rid of
> all the "scant" and "heaping" type measurement directions in favor of
> precise ones. That sometimes led to rather odd ones like, "one cup
> flour minus one tablespoon" and such.
>
> Brian

That's kind of silly, but I've seen those measurement reductions myself.
I'm pretty sure my grandmothers didn't have any cookbooks - at least, I
never saw one in either of their homes. I rarely measure anything unless
I'm making rice or bread.

Jill